By Adedeji Adewumi, Guest Columnist
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Activism is both a science and an art. While social activists in Nigeria do understand and have become successful in the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the art of activism, we are yet to master the science of activism.
The art of activism is the front-end, public-view life of activism – the protests, calling out and public shaming of leaders, filing of lawsuits and strikes to name a few. The art of activism is that part of activism taught in our secondary schools and tertiary institutions. Essentially, it can be summarized in this creed – students and young people (mostly) must wear the palpable hat of struggle to be classified as social activists.
The history of activism in Nigeria has shown the art of activism to be the more popular, the most encouraging, and the most used form of activism. While a number of victories have been won via this means, it is reactive, allows only to focus on short-term goals, and accrues fewer wins. It turns out that it is not the most potent form of activism.
The science of activism by contrast is the back-end, out-of-sight, rigorous, less attractive, energy-guzzling, and time-consuming side of activism. It is the polling, data analytics, lobbying, donation, campaigning, research, messaging, and communication life of activism. ‘Unsurprisingly’, this is not taught in schools; it is only acquired through years of skill development, active learning, expertise, and specialization. This side of activism is proactive, less advertised, naturally focuses on long-term objectives, and is the most potent form of activism.
An example of the potency of the science of activism is the work of Stacy Abrams at the just concluded presidential election in the United State. Ms. Abrams’ work on increasing the voter’s turn-out and electronic voting, was instrumental in ensuring the Democratic Party won in Georgia, a state last won by her party in 1992. While it is easier to view her effort as a good comeback story (she lost the governorship race in 2018) as depicted by mainstream media, it will be instructive to note that Stacey Abrams has spent over three decades understanding how Georgians voted, how and why minorities were disenfranchised. This she found out by conducting polls, recruiting volunteers, knocking on doors, crafting messages, understanding social media, and speaking to voters, all without the hullabaloo of being scrutinized by the public.
Nigeria’s social activists must begin to invest and experiment with the ‘science of activism’ for lasting and far-reaching changes. We must spend time conducting polls, research, crafting our messages and public communication, behavioral analysis, employ data analytics tools, lobby parliament, and the executive’s support in our campaigns. We must become strategic with our activism and stop fighting as ‘one that beats the air’.
It is imperative to note that both the art and science of activism are effective tools for societal change. As we learn to co-exist with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and expect the government in Nigeria (Federal and States) not to enact policies, legislations, and/or executive orders that are unfavorable to the people, social activists in Nigeria must engage these two edges of the sword of activism for the desired results in our nation.
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One comment
Olawale Olorunfemi Ogedengbe
January 5, 2021 at 4:02 am
This is really enlightening.
Thanks.